The final dregs of Labour’s broadly disastrous (for the left) conference are still filtering through, with Guido discovering this fairly amusing clip of Richard Burgon parodying Neil Kinnock’s infamous 1985 Militant speech. The audience naturally lapped it up and for Burgon it was a decent performance. It does ring slightly hollow when, unlike Kinnock, Burgon and his merry band of deluded socialists are nowhere near the levers of Labour Party power. The punchline from Burgon did make Guido laugh…
Labour’s Richard Burgon becomes the latest member of the loony left to demand reparations be paid to Taliban-run Afghanistan. A statement posted to Burgon’s Twitter argues that there “is no military solution in Afghanistan. The focus now should be in reparations and supporting refugees.”
The crisis in Afghanistan is the result of 20 years of disastrous military intervention.
— Richard Burgon MP (@RichardBurgon) August 17, 2021
Just as in Iraq & Libya, backing US-led invasions led to a huge loss of life.
There is no military solution in Afghanistan. The focus now should be on reparations and supporting refugees.
Guido hopes Burgon’s put in to speak tomorrow…
Entries in the comments…
Labour’s hard-left MPs have already launched vocal attacks on Keir Starmer’s leadership, following the party’s record-breaking humiliating defeat in Hartlepool. Lloyd Russel-Moyle was first out the gates before the result was declared, slamming Starmer’s tactic of “valueless flag waving and suit wearing”
Good to see valueless flag waving and suit wearing working so well... or not?
— Lloyd Russell-Moyle MP🌹🏳️🌈 (@lloyd_rm) May 6, 2021
Fan-favourite Richard Burgon has tweeted “Labour’s leadership needs to urgently change direction” and return to championing Corbyn’s 2019 election promises, something Shadow Communities Secretary Steve Reed instantly rejected on the Today Programme, saying Hartlepool must “absolutely not mean” a return to Corbynism.
Momentum is warning if Starmer doesn’t change direction he will be “out of a job”. Diane Abbott is also joining in, deludedly bragging about Corbyn’s two victories in Hartlepool and saying it is not possible to blame the former leadership for the result:
Crushing defeat for Labour in Hartlepool. Not possible to blame Jeremy Corbyn for this result. Labour won the seat twice under his leadership. Keir Starmer must think again about his strategy #HartlepoolByElection
— Diane Abbott MP (@HackneyAbbott) May 7, 2021
Former Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson is ignoring Abbott’s interpretation, telling LBC this morning that “the overhang from the Corbyn-era is still there.”
Does Dr Paul Williams have any thoughts? He turned up the Hartlepool count 30 seconds before the announcement and being filmed running away immediately after, refusing to give a concession speech or talk to the press. There will be weeks of fall-out from this for Labour, with one official telling the hard left making leadership threats, “bring it on”…
Richard Burgon on Starmer’s strategy to win votes…
“This is symptomatic of a strategy which goes chasing votes from groups who already have their own party – the Conservative party”
The BBC is yet again refusing to inform readers and viewers about secret political activists: this time not only is their anti-government ‘expert’ a Labour activist: he’s a longtime supporter of Richard Burgon. Yesterday the BBC gave a platform to Chris Dyson, a headteacher in Leeds, to attack the government over laptop allocation, saying he was “flattened” to learn his school’s laptop donation allocation had been cut. Dyson’s long-time support for Corbynite backbencher Richard Burgon wasn’t mentioned, despite the headteacher having appeared on leaflets for the loony left candidate in the election…
For once, however, the BBC’s leftie cover-up isn’t the most outrageous dereliction of their reporting duty. Guido learns far from the laptop shortage being the government’s fault, Leeds’ Labour-controlled council has been given 2,100 laptops by Gavin Williamson, however so far only half have been distributed, the rest are sat in storage in Leed’s Civic Hall. Guido doesn’t expect the BBC will be amending their piece…
